Thursday, June 24, 2010

South Coast Plaza Hearts Bloggers Event

I was invited to my first blogger event hosted by South Coast Plaza for an afternoon filled with fashion, beauty, travel-packing tips, good food and great shopping. It was a great event and I was able to meet bloggers Stef and Tyna from We Heart This, Diane from Orange2LA, Alex from Blab Communications and many other wonderful women from the South Coast Plaza marketing team.

SCP is over an hour drive from where I live, and since I don't go often, I'm always up for any excuse to go. When I received the invite, I knew I had to attend. While I'm lucky enough to have access to most of my favorite brands, South Coast Plaza does have a number of unique stores that I don't get to shop at frequently. Among my favorites to check out are MAC Pro, Shu Uemura, Miu Miu, the Bloomingdales Chanel Studio (which carries select imported Asian/European exclusives), and the corner where they have Space NK. In addition they have a gigantic Sephora and large J.Crew store which are always fun. The mall also carries a wide variety of designer boutiques including Tod's, Gucci, Jimmy Choo, Dior, Chanel, Oscar de la Renta, Ted Baker to name a few. One can definitely say that there's something there for everyone.

The event was focused around a travel/bon voyage/jet setters theme and they gave us a tour featuring a few select stores with product demonstrations at Tumi, Spa Nordstrom, Henri Bendel, and a new lingerie boutique called Intimacy. While I don't normally shop at the stores that were featured, I found the product demonstrations helpful, interesting and educational. I know that I will definitely go back to Tumi in the near future with my husband to shop for travel gear. There are so many different options to make packing easy and efficient. So many fun accessories. In my excitement, I wasn't able to get as many photos as I wanted, but here are a few that I was able to capture.

Tumi Demonstration:

Henri Bendel (smaller version of the one inNY, but still chic and cute):

Rows of my most favorite candles in the world(but I purchase mine at Bath & Body Works):

Loved the design of the cute scent cards:

Found this note pad amusing (want vs. need):

The new Intimacy Boutique:

We were given about 1 hour to shop on our own time before cocktails (hardly enough time) so Diane and I rushed to Bloomingdales to see if Chanel Fall had arrived (no luck yet), then to Molton Brown to check out their shower gels and hair care line. I've been a huge fan of Molton Brown's Coco De Mer Shower Gel - but unfortunately the stores near me no longer carry the line which makes it a bit difficult for me to replace these days. I wanted to try something new, so I picked up several shower gels in their travel size (6 for $49) in Heavenly Ginger, Inspiring Indigo and Cool Buchu (for the husband). For visiting, they gave us a complimentary goody bag filled with some minis to try out.

My Molton Brown purchases (left) + gift (right):

I went back to SpaceNK at Bloomingdales to check out more Rococo nail polish shades. My readers know I am a fan of Rococo Nail Apparel for their color selection and quality. Those not familiar with the line, check out my previous articles, swatches and reviews (linked here) of the nail polishes. I have forever been trying to purchase Fashion Victim Day and Fashion Victim Night but it seems as though they are always out of stock. There was a lovely dusty purple cream shade that I was enamored with, but they were sold out of that color too. I settled for a raspberry red shade called Trash (shocking for me, I know, but the color is really lovely).

One hour later, we were treated to appetizers, cocktails, dinner and a fashion show featuring Jimmy Choo and La Perla at AnQi by Crustacean. I sat with Stef, Tyna and Diane (all beauty bloggers) and we had chatted non-stop about our beauty favorites, compared cameras, discussed our favorite brands, shared skincare tips. Stef & Tyna have a wealth of knowledge from testing a wide variety of products. Both had flawless skin so I need to find out their secret. I am reading through their blog right now to see what new lines I should try out based on their recommendations (I hear Kate Somerville is good). Diane and I hit it off from the start - we both love the same brands (among our top two picks include Chanel and Paul & Joe). Her eyeshadow look was incredibly gorgeous and she has lovely hair (I immediately took note of her favorite hair care brands and am determined to try them out in the next month).

The customized Anqi menu for the bloggers:

The La Perla Fashion Show:

It was an eventful afternoon and it was great to meet other bloggers and marketing professionals. Even though the event lasted from 2 pm to past 8 pm, there was still a lot more I wanted to visit but didn't have the time. I definitely have more to explore at South Coast Plaza. I'm already planning my next trip - hopefully in the next few months or so.

Diane has also written an article on the event. Check out her fabulous blog and article here at Orange2LA.com.

7 comments:

Fun read! Thanks for sharing. Sounds like you had a great time, Lina. I adore those candles, too. Maybe stop by BBW, 'cause come ladies on MUA said there was a sale, although I don't know the details. Have a great day!

I love SCP and try to get there once or twice a year. (It's a bit over an hour drive for me, too). From Target to Tiffany's, they have something for everyone. I love to meet friends for lunch and then window shop the designer section of the plaza. I also make a point of visiting the Banana Republic and J. Crew stores as they are much larger than the ones we have in Thousand Oaks.

It was great to meet you Sabrina, and loved that we got to sit together at AnQi to blab about makeup over fab food. What could be better?! For me, it only could have been more oysters. And some Edward Bess...

Woah, your beauty blogger event looks awesome - I work full time so I can't make 90% of the one's I get invited to :(I'm an Aussie blogger but Clarins once invited me to a blogger's event in NY...how good that would have been!

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